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$10,000 wedding?!

Does anyone know how to make an outdoor wedding in the Cleveland area as inexpensive as possible? The venues are what is killing my budget right now. Any help? On anything...caterers, flowers, etc...appreciated!!

Re: $10,000 wedding?!

How many guests do you expect (i.e. how much space do you need)? What venues have you looked into so far?

Without knowing anything else, with a tight budget, DIY is going to be your best bet. DIY whatever you can -- invitations, centerpieces (you don't have to do flowers ya know) and other decor, favors (or skip them!), whatever. If you plan on serving alcohol, just go with beer and wine, skipping liquor entirely. You don't need a limo. If you can, try for a Fri. or Sun. wedding date, as sometimes venues (and other vendors) will charge less on those days.

Outdoor weddings can be tricky because you need to account for everything (that is usually already included in an indoor venue's price) -- besides the obvious food/beverage and catering service, you might have to rent a dance floor (as well as DJ/music), tents, chairs/tables, lighting... and consider where your electrical source is (for the DJ, caterer, etc), lighting once the sun sets, security, parking, restrooms...

You might want to price our your wedding with an outdoor ceremony and indoor reception, as well as outdoor for both (taking all factors into account), just to see how they stack up and what's realistic for your budget. There are venues that are indoors, but offer a somewhat outdoor feel by having lots of doors/windows that open onto a patio or by being located in a remote, picturesque area with nice view.

The budget is totally possible to pull off... The best thing I could say is find a spot to do your ceremony where it's free. For instance, downtown hudson has a super little new england town feel to it, you just need a sponsor and you can have you ceremony on the green in their gazebo for free. The drawback, you can't have chairs on the grass, but that's only one less thing to knock off the "to-do" list. The other thing I would say is find a reception hall that does everything all inclusive, as far as outdoor halls I would look to a country club (not one of the fancy ones) or a barn, and do a vintage homey feeling. There is easy DIY stuff that you could get your bridemaids involved in that might be fun girls nights. As far as photographers, I am using Nickie Schuler, her price is 1995, but she's willing to work with any budget and she's amazing! Flowers, I am using The Budding Tree, and again, they are the type where you tell them your budget and they make it work, my budget for my wedding is (was) 10k as well, and the thing that put us over the edge was alcohol, so the best thing you could do is look for places that allow you to bring your own booze, you'll save thousands of dollars on just that alone. And for caterers, I don't have many suggestions because I'm not sure what your theme or style is, but my fall back is always Old Carolina BBQ they have great food, and their catering menu isn't over the top expensive. But mostly look for vendors who are willing to work within your budget, and keep in mind that weddings in wedding season (i.e. may-november do cost the most) We are getting married in March, and because of that we got $3000 off of our hall and $300 off of our DJ, just something to keep in mind when you start planning.

I'm inviting about 180 people. We've looked lots of places but would like the ceremony outdoors and the reception is not as much of a concern. We'd love a garden scene. Anywhere downtown or even in the suburbs is fine. Thanks.

The botanicel garden is free,,,,,,,um bedford hts has this awesome gazebo.....Im using it to take pics there.....its free you just need a free permit to reserve it....i actually have a pic of it to its pretty big.....uh Maple heights catering is pretty cheap thats where we goin then I found a dinner table catering company and if think the manor complex centre in euclid too

Cultural Gardens are beautiful but you would have to get a permit because technicaly you're suppose to get one for even photos there. But I think the biggest problem you would have there especially with the amount of people you're having is parking. I would recommend hitting different parks in Rocky River or other Metroparks to check out venues that also have pavillions or something else close by for a rain plan.